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Re: [APML] Meteor Photography Questions



I understand the benefit of using maximum aperture, but that also means that the exposures must be shorter before reaching skyfog.  With ISO 800 film with p = 0.71 at f/1.8 and skyglow of mag. 20 per square arcsecond (roughly the amount of skyglow at our site), ASTREXP estimates an 11-minute exposure for reaching skyfog.  At f/2.8, it's 40 minutes, and at f/4 it's 1.8 hrs.  Thus, going one stop from 1.8 to 2.8 allows the exposure to be almost four times as long, and going to f/4 almost ten times as long, so I'm wondering if I can make up for the reduced aperture and reduced ability to record faint meteors by exposing for a much longer time before reaching skyfog.  I would not have the faint meteors, but I'd get more bright ones because of the longer exposure.
--
Alson Wong
Riverside Astronomical Society
     http://www.rivastro.org/
Visit my Web page at:
     http://home.earthlink.net/~alsonwong/index.htm
 
----- Original Message -----
 
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 7:52 PM
Subject: Re: [APML] Meteor Photography Questions

There are a number of factors involved in successful meteor photography, and most of them are compromizes.  Stopping down your lens will rob you of the ability to record many meteors.  You need maximum aperture.  Also, wide angle lenses may increase sky coverage, but their smaller apertures limit the number of meteors you can record with a given film.  These and other factors are addressed on my web site at http://www.robertreeves.com/metphoto.htm
As for films. personally I'm going to a dark sky site and use Superia 800.
 
Robert Reeves                      reeves10@swbell.net
520 Rittiman Rd.                   www.robertreeves.com
San Antonio, Texas 78209    210-828-9036
USA                                     29.484  98.440  200 meters